The list

And while Shane Warne was at it, choosing the top 50 he has played with, I thought I have watched enough cricket to come up with the top 50 I have seen over my cricket watching career. But unlike Warne, I have restricted it to international cricket, and I believe ODIs and Tests warrant different lists. The perspective behind these lists is that of somebody like Sir Alex Fergusson or Arsene Wenger. I am seeing that if I was the one person responsible for performance of my team who would I most desperately want to be in there. In other words and in these days of IPL, if you could buy a player, who should cost you the most.
Another criterion is that I should have watched the player play long enough. So even though I do remember watching Kapil Dev, it wasn't until he was just about finished. And although I admire upcoming stars such as Lasith Malinga and Mohammed Asif, they have a long way to go yet.

So her goes -
Tests -

No	Player	Country
1	Muralitharan	SL
2	Lara	WI
3	Warne	Aus
4	S. Waugh	Aus
5	Dravid	Ind
6	McGrath	Aus
7	Tendulkar	Ind
8	Ponting	Aus
9	Ambrose	WI
10	Gilchrist	Aus
11	Donald	SA
12	Kumble	Ind
13	Kallis	SA
14	Akram	Pak
15	Pieterson	Eng
16	Inzamam	Pak
17	Pollock	SA
18	Hayden	Aus
19	Walsh	WI
20	Desilva	SL
21	A. Flower	Zim
22	Flintoff	Eng
23	W. Younis	Pak
24	Jayawardene	SL
25	M. Taylor	Aus
26	Cairns	NZ
27	Chanderpaul	WI
28	D. Martyn	Aus
29	Sangakkara	SL
30	Youssuf	Pak
31	Vaughan	Eng
32	S. Fleming	NZ
33	S. Anwar	Pak
34	G. Kirsten	SA
35	Hoggard	Eng
36	Healy	Aus
37	Thorpe	Eng
38	Laxman	Ind
39	Vaas	SL
40	Slater	Aus
41	Gough	Eng
42	G. Smith	SA
43	M. Crowe	NZ
44	M. Waugh	Aus
45	Ntini	SA
46	Vettori	NZ
47	Ganguly	Ind
48	Langer	Aus
49	S. Akhtar	Pak
50	H. Singh	Ind

ODIs

No	Player	Country
1	Tendulkar	Ind
2	Akram	Pak
3	Muralitharan	SL
4	Gilchirst	Aus
5	Bevan	Aus
6	Jayasuriya	SL
7	McGrath	Aus
8	Warne	Aus
9	Ganguly	Ind
10	Inzamam	Pak
11	Ponting	Aus
12	Anwar	Pak
13	M. Waugh	Aus
14	Kallis	SA
15	Vaas	SL
16	Lara	WI
17	B. Lee	Aus
18	Dravid	Ind
19	Symonds	Aus
20	Pollock	SA
21	W. Younis	Pak
22	Gibbs	SA
23	Sangakkara	SL
24	Ambrose	WI
25	S. Fleming	NZ
26	Youssuf	Pak
27	G. Kirsten	SA
28	Donald	SA
29	Pieterson	Eng
30	Desilva	SL
31	Rhodes	SA
32	Vettori	NZ
33	S. Waugh	Aus
34	S. Mushtaq	Pak
35	Kumble	Ind
36	Afridi	Pak
37	Klusener	SA
38	Gough	Eng
39	Y. Singh	Ind
40	Astle	NZ
41	Chanderpaul	WI
42	Hussey	Aus
43	F. Devillers	SA
44	Cairns	NZ
45	A. Flower	Zim
46	Thorpe	Eng
47	Collingwood	Eng
48	Hooper	WI
49	Dhoni	Ind
50	B. McMillan	SA